Return of the Shepard
by CommanderBrie
Summary: 21 years after the Reaper Invasion the galaxy had become accustomed to living in a pretty peaceful environment. Planets and cultures were rebuilt, and technology had gotten back up to speed. Everything was going so well until all illusions of a peaceful existence were crushed when an unexpected enemy began a sudden uprising. Would Commander Shepard be able to save us once again?
1. Prologue

Once the Reaper Invasion was brought to a stop, the galaxy got the chance to breathe. It took some time, but the Mass Relays were fixed and planets were rebuilt. Life continued and it seemed as if everyone had a better appreciation for it.

The famous Commander Shepard knew it was time for life to slow down a bit, and no one could blame her. She retired from the Alliance Military in exchange for a change to settle down with the man who had been personally responsible for giving her a reason to hold on in the end - Kaidan Alenko. Although she still held her Spectre status and went on missions here and there for the Council, the majority of her time and attention were focused on her new life in Canada with her husband and two children.

Life was actually normal and although it took some getting used to, Shepard grew to quickly love it. Waking up every morning and knowing for a fact that the day would go on without the risk of dying was such a relief. She was finally able to relax and get to know the world for what it could be — a happy place.

Although the safety for those she loved was a major point that attracted her to a normal life, her favourite part was being able to watch her children grow. Being witness to the development of who they were was such a blessing because it was something she never got to experience before. The people in her life were in and out so quickly - the price of being raised an orphan and enlisting in the military at age 18. She loved seeing them develop their own interests and personalities. And she adored seeing bits of herself and Kaidan shining through both their daughter and their son.

Shepard felt both a sense of pride and worried the day that her daughter revealed her interest in enlisting with the Alliance. They both saw it coming. She'd always shown way too much interest in wanting them to teach her things such as combat techniques, how to handle a firearm, and the differences in armor. She was only (and would always be) a baby in Shepard and Kaidan's eyes, but the truth was that she was 18 and if she wanted to enlist, then it was her choice. So Kaidan escorted his one and only daughter to enlist, promising Shepard to protect and watch over her through the training process.

The Alliance allowed Kaidan to stick around, aiding in her training while Shepard stayed at home with their son. Of course she missed those two, but she knew she'd see them again soon. ...Or so she thought.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ **This is just sort of an introduction to the story to give you an idea of where everything is at when the story starts. I'll be posting the first chapter soon. I do not claim to own Mass Effect or any of the characters or entities that are in the game. I only own the current story line (everything that takes place after the defeat of the Reapers) and a few of the OC characters.  
This story is rated T for teens. It** **occasionally contains coarse language, suggestive content, and violence. It may be unsuitable for children under the age of 13. *At any point if I feel the need, I reserve the right to alter the rating.**


	2. The Separation

Shepard hadn't even been asleep for 2 hours when her comm link started going off. _'Urgent Transmission for: Commander Shepard from: Systems Alliance. Urgent Transmission for: Commander Shepard from: Systems Alliance.'_ She found herself rolling over and grumbling miserably as if this behavior would make it go away. She'd retired from the military 20+ years ago after somehow managing to not only destroy the Reapers, but survive in the process. Yes, her Spectre status was still active, but the only missions she ever got were from the Council now. And none of them came in at one in the morning.

Yet the comm link continued beeping and blinking, forcing Shepard to remove herself from the comfort and warmth of the bed and scuffle over to establish the connection yawn. She didn't even get the chance to process who was displayed in front of her before she heard her name being yelled in an extremely familiar voice.

"Shepard!" The sound of urgency was laced in her name. "Shepard, are you alright?"

"Kaidan?" Shepard's face distorted slightly at the sight of her husband before her. "I was just fine until my husband apparently forgot about the time difference and called me in the middle of the night." She palmed at her eyes, trying to un-fuzz the world around her and as soon as she could see clearly, she offered a smile "Luckily for you I miss you. Otherwise I'd have to vow to kill you when you get home."

It'd been about three months since she last saw not only Kaidan, but her eldest daughter Andie as well. Growing up and listening to the many different stories that Shepard and Kaidan told was obviously inspiring because as soon as she turned 18, Andie had announced that she wanted to do something great with her life. She wanted to help people and protect the galaxy, so she wanted to enlist in the Alliance military. Shepard had been both proud and hesitant — for the safety of her family was the one thing she loved so much about retiring and learning how to live a normal life.

Luckily, her and Kaidan had some pull within the Alliance due to their service and Kaidan was allowed to not only be there for Andie's training, but to participate in the actual training itself. The two had left three months ago and through daily vid calls and messages, Shepard was able to gather that her daughter was much like her parents — she really had a knack for military life. Her and her 16 year old son would sit there and watch the vids that Kaidan sent of Andie's training and it was clear that this was definitely something she was born to do.

"I miss you too, but right now I need you to focus." Immediately Shepard's face dropped as she realized that something wasn't right.

"What's wrong? Is Andie okay?" The panic was pouring from each word.

"Andie is fine. We're fine. But you need to grab Blaise and get the hell off of Earth." The urgency in Kaidan's voice grew as he continued, a slight sense of fear becoming detectable as he rushed through his words. "There have been some attacks. I'll explain more later, but you need to _leave_. Now. Take a gun and keep your eyes open. Joker is on his way."

Shepard was shocked by everything Kaidan was saying. She felt frozen and confused. She'd never been fond of not being kept in the loop and given that this was clearly some sort of emergency situation, she found herself hating not knowing what was going even more than usual.

"It can't be Reapers. I know for a fact I put an end to that. Who is it now?" Feeling frozen was obviously a fleeting moment, considering the fact that as she spoke, Shepard was moving about in her room and gathering clothes so she could get dressed.

"It's not Reapers, It's mercs. We don't know who and why, but whoever they are or whoever hired them... they're a very large and powerful group. I don't want you facing them by yourself. Not now, not until we understand what we're facing here. You need to get Blaise and the two of you need to get on the Normandy and get out here." Shepard's eyes rolled as she pulled her armor on over her clothes. Kaidan noticed. "Listen to me. Please. You're a wife and a mother now. _My_ wife and mother to _my_ children. Jumping carelessly into battle is stupid and I will never forgive you if these kids lose their mother because she had no idea what she was up against." Kaidan's voice was getting louder and firmer by the second, a touch of anger joining the fear that had already been present. "The Reapers were a force to be reckoned with and even back then you took the time to gather intel and everything else you needed to in order to face them. Why would this be any different?"

At that Shepard stopped in her tracks and seriously considered what Kaidan was saying. He was right. She was never one to just jump into battle like that and especially now she couldn't afford to. She looked at Kaidan on the comm-link and took a deep breath. "I'll radio Joker and find out how far out he is. Do you still have some of your old armor laying around? I want Blaise to wear it just in case."

There was an obvious sense of relief as Kaidan told her where to find his old armor. With a thank you and an 'I love you', the two said their goodbyes. He didn't even have to ask Shepard before she was promising a safe arrival. She then signed off and immediately went to wake Blaise, ignoring the protests as she instructed him to put the armor on without any explanation as to why. Even when he pressed about it she simply responded with a _"just do as you're told"_ before heading out of his room and into the weapon's storage closet located towards the back of the home.

It didn't take long for Shepard to load up on weapons. It was almost as if she hadn't been away from the military for 21 years - as if it was just yesterday that she was fighting the Reapers with her skills at their peak. But the reality was that she was now 21 years older and 21 years out of day-to-day experience. Even with the fact that humans aged much more gracefully than they had a couple hundred years ago, Shep was concerned that she might be a bit out of practice and hoped that her and her son managed to get to Kaidan without incident. The first step in making sure that happened was getting to the Normandy as quickly as possible.

"Joker! Can you hear me?" Shepard closed her eyes hoping that her suit radio was still linked to the Normandy's channel. "Joker, this is Shepard. I need an ETA." She waited a few more seconds until Blaise finally emerged, fully dressed in Kaidan's armor. Part of her wanted to scoop him up and tell him how much he looked like his dad, but she knew that it was neither the time nor the place. She knew that Earth wasn't safe but she had no idea how close the danger was and how long it would be before their ship even got there to pick them up. So she handed him one of the safer guns and looked him right in the eyes.

"Only shoot it if you have to". With wide eyes Blaise gripped the gun and nodded a couple times before Shepard pat his back enough for him to feel it through the armor. "You'll be fine."

As if to contradict her statement, there was a sudden blast that could be heard in the distance. Blaise jumped at the sound, but Shepard stood firm as she removed one of her guns from her back. "We have less time than I thought. Stay close and keep your eyes open."

Blaise held his weapon a little closer as he followed after his mom. Although he'd shot one a few times in his life, he definitely was not as drawn to the whole military-fire fights-combat lifestyle as his sister was. He loved hearing the stories about his parents becoming the heroes of the galaxy, but his interest rested with science and research. He would be more than willing to tell you how the gun worked and explain the accuracy of its shots, but when actually firing one he found himself to be a pretty bad shot.

"So will there any point in time that you plan on telling me what's going on? Or even where we're going?" Blaise's tone of voice was definitely a trait that came from his mom. The tendency to be rather sarcastic was a normal thing and as much as it drove her crazy, she knew that being bothered by it would be extremely hypocritical. So she always just chose to ignore it as if it didn't happen. Kaidan, on the other hand, would go out of his way to point out how much like his mom he was any time it happened.

"We're meeting up with your dad. I'll explain what I can when we get to the ship, but trust me when I say that I don't know too much more than you do right now." Shepard cut him off when he opened his mouth to respond and nodded towards the front door. He nodded once again and with that, the two of them abandoned their home and set off to the station.

All was going well enough. They went outside and headed straight for the X3M skycar. Shepard instructed Blaise to drive on the basis that if the danger were to reach them or they ended up driving directly into it, then Shepard could shoot while Blaise drove. The sounds of battle still seemed pretty far in the distance and even as they drove, nothing around them appeared to be out of sorts in the slightest.

About fifteen minutes into the drive Shepard smiled awkwardly at her son. "Honey, I think the only concern you should have in regards to your speed is that if you continue to go the speed limit, someone is going to catch us." In response Blaise glared in his mom's direction before increasing their speed. Shepard chuckled slightly and looked out her window before saying _"good boy,"_ to which Blaise responded with a loud " _mooooom_ ". It was amazing. Just 5 minutes ago Shepard was feeling like her old self again — the person who lived and breathed the military and pushed everything else on the back burner. But just that quick little back and forth with her son and she was the new Shepard again. The one whose family is and always would be the top priority in her life. She was glad that she had allowed Kaidan to talk her down from going head first into whatever mess this was, guns blazing. Because the thought of being taken from her kids hurt her so much that she was almost sure that even if she died, she would still feel the pain of not being with them. She couldn't let that happen. She wouldn't let that happen.

Another fifteen or twenty minutes passed by and the two finally arrived at the station. The Normandy was nowhere in sight, but luckily everything still seemed to be calm. They went into the station and as Blaise moved to the windows to admire the few ships that were docked there Shepard looked around, trying to find someone who was supposed to be working. It wasn't until this point that she realized that things were a little too calm for comfort.

She drew her weapon once again and called for Blaise. "Blaise? Do you see anyone?"

"Uh... no, but I see a ship approaching. Kind of looks like the one you and dad showed us pictures of."

Shepard quickly moved towards him and out the window, letting out a hard sigh of relief as she holstered her weapon again. "Joker. Thank God." Her hand moved to her ear, activating the suit radio. "Joker, this is Shepard. Do you read?"

She waited a few seconds with her eyes trained on the ship as it moved closer and closer to the docking port and it almost caught her by surprise when she heard that familiar voice in her ear. "Shepard! It's been a while. I hear you need rescuing... _again_. Well don't worry, cause Joker is here to save the day."

Shepard laughed at his response but just as the ship clicked into the port and Shepard went to bypass the door to the port, there was the sound of a blast and glass shattering from the other side of the station. "Blaise!" She launched herself towards him as he cowered behind a row of seats and dragged him towards the door. "Bypass the door. I'll cover you." She could tell that he was visibly shaken, his hands trembling as he tried to work on the door. "Hey! Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt you. And remember, your dad's armor has some pretty badass shields. We'll get through this."

She didn't have another moment to make sure he understood what she was saying before shots started flying by them and a gang of mercenaries poured into the area they were in. Shepard quickly sprung into action, shooting merc after merc. Her headshots were taking out quite a bit of her opposition, but she felt herself beginning to get overwhelmed as the remaining enemies began advancing on her. She knew she needed to take a risk — otherwise Blaise could very well end up being hit. She took one look at him before turning back and charging. Her omni blade swung from her arm and she jumped up, plowing the blade into one of the nearby mercs. She then grabbed his limp body and pulled it in front of her, using it as a shield as she blasted every one of them who dared get close. Not too long after that Shepard heard not only the sound of the bay door opening, but the third familiar and unexpected voice of the day.

"SHEPARD!" A shot came from behind her, nailing a mercenary to her left and when she whipped her head around she couldn't help but smile.

"Garrus! Get Blaise on the ship!" The Turian hesitated, taking a moment to get a few more shots in as Blaise stood close with the gun aimed towards the mob but not firing at all. "Garrus, please." Shepard pleaded with him before she threw the mercenary's body to the floor and dove behind a nearby counter.

Shepard knew why he was hesitating. He did the exact same thing during the battle with the Reapers when Shepard sent him back on the ship for medical attention. He was scared. Scared he was going to lose her. Scared he'd never see her again. She couldn't really blame him because he'd already lost her quite a few times. The first being when the Collectors blew the SR-1 up and she died only to be resurrected by Cerberus. The second time being when the Alliance had grounded her after she destroyed an entire solar system to postpone the Reaper invasion. He then felt like he lost her not long after that when Kaidan came back into the picture and Shepard chose to end her relationship with Garrus to continue one with Kaidan. Finally, when the Reapers were destroyed they all had a very hard time locating her. He was just about to come to terms with the fact that she was gone when she ended up resurfacing. Garrus had admitted to loving her ever since the mission against the Collectors. And every time they've seen each other since then, he has not been afraid to remind her. So she could understand that the thought of letting someone he loved so much fend for themselves while he ensured the safety of someone else was not ideal. But she needed to make sure that Blaise got on okay. She needed to make sure that she could thin the mob out before getting on the ship herself. If she didn't, they would plow right through the doors before the ship could get away from the dock. And that was not a risk that was worth taking.

"GARRUS, that's an order!"

Shepard pulled her shotgun out when a mercenary climbed over the counter and within a second she blew him to pieces before activating her tactical cloak, disappearing from sight. The shots being fired from the mercs increased dramatically as they all swarmed the area where she was last seen. The loss of a visual on Shepard sent Blaise into a bit of a panic but before he could run out to find her Garrus grabbed his arm and pulled him onto the ship, closed the door and pulled his sniper rifle out as he went back out to aid Shepard. He peeked around the corner and looked upon the chaos, eyes scanning for any sign of her. What he saw next was not the sign he had hoped for.

Shepard's cloak started wearing off, pieces of her flickering in and out of view and before Garrus could do anything, she was lifted into the air and surrounded by the familiar blue light of biotic force. Suddenly all shots ceased and there was a part in the crowd. Three women came strolling through the mercs, one focused on suspending Shepard with the others simply smirking at her.

"Shepard. Huh. Thought it'd be much more difficult to get to you. Seems like your time away from the military hasn't done you much good." The woman in the middle shifted her glance towards the docking tunnel as Garrus stepped out, his sniper glued in her direction. "Ah, Garrus Vakarian. I should have known that once I found her you wouldn't be too far behind."

"Maya Brooks," Garrus' voice was strong and his words were condescending. "Didn't we send you to prison once already? You know we aren't too big on giving second chances and never give the option of a third."

Maya laughed lightly, shaking her head as she did. "Your threats mean nothing to me. Pretty sure your lovely Commander here promised to kill me last time and didn't. Clearly that didn't work in her favor. However, I do know when to not push my luck." With a wave of her hand, the woman who had been suspending Shepard dropped her to the floor and Shepard let out a loud grunt when she hit the ground only to be quickly disarmed and restrained by four mercenaries. "Bring Shepard to the base. _Kill_ the Turian."

Once again the shots were flying all over the place. Garrus fought back harder and harder as he saw Shepard being led away from him. Her struggles made him want to fight more, but when he was thrown back against the wall he knew that the chances of getting to her were slim to none. And even if he managed to, getting her away from them and coming back alive were nonexistent. He gave in to logic, telling himself that he would find her and save her in an attempt to settle the inner struggle and the guilt as he retreated and jumped onto the Normandy. He quickly made his way to the cockpit and instructed Joker to go.

"Where's Shep-" Joker didn't even get the chance to finish his question before Garrus was yelling "GO" at him. So Joker pulled the ship away from the port and Garrus made his way back towards the CIC. Blaise was quick to intercept him before he could get too far.

"Is my mom in the cockpit?"

The Turian looked down upon the young man's face and his jaw twitched as he let out a soft breath. "I'm sorry, kid. We'll get her back."

Blaise's crystal blue eyes glossed over at Garrus' response and he pressed his hands together, lacing his fingers when he felt them beginning to shake. "You left her?"

"I didn't have a choice." Garrus' felt the pang of guilt as the boy's face twisted and the color drained from his skin. The Turian wrapped an arm around his shoulder, comforting him to the best of his ability as the boy stumbled forward, eyes drawn in the direction of the doors. "We'll get her back," he reassured as Blaise covered his mouth and continued trembling. "Knowing your mom she'll blow them all up and walk out of the fire completely unscathed before we even get the chance to try. She's gonna be alright."

As much as Garrus believed what was coming out of his own mouth, there was a major part of him that couldn't help but worry. It was in his nature when it came to Shepard. But he knew that he couldn't let that worry eat at him because this was _Shepard_ after all. She'd survived much worse than this.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_ I know that some of this is a bit confusing and it tends to drone on and on at times, but I really needed to include as much of it as I could because there are several vital parts to the story hiding in here. I've been sitting on this story for a very long time now and actually putting it into words has been both strange and satisfying at the same time. Just keep in mind that there is quite a bit more information coming your way over the next few chapters, so bare with me as I try to push all of that out at a rate that isn't overwhelming to the readers. While I cannot promise a guaranteed chapter update once a week, I can promise to try my hardest. I hope you enjoyed this and look forward to reading more! I look forward to writing more. **


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